CLIENT CASE STUDY

Washington State: A government transformation for performance excellence

Learn about Washington’s bold government transformation initiative that positions the state as a national leader in personalized services for citizens.

Overview

With a reputation for performance management and continuous improvement, Washington State has long been a leader in government transformation. Eager to build on these strengths, the Governor’s Office developed the Results Washington (Results WA) initiative—a strategic framework supporting Governor Jay Inslee’s vision to turn Washington into a national model for states with limited resources. The goal of the program is to position the state as a national leader in education, job creation, sustainable energy and vibrant communities.

To accomplish this goal, state executives worked with Accenture to identify opportunities for government transformation and developed an action plan to embed a culture of performance excellence with measurable results. The resulting initiative was Results WA which supports a new collaborative, cross-agency approach that is rapidly changing the way government works, providing a new level of accountability and transparency that enables state employees and residents to track improvements against targets. The Results WA priorities and long-term goals will also drive the governor’s budget and policies.

Opportunity

After taking office in 2013, Governor Jay Inslee sought to transform the state into a national performance model by building on the state’s existing accountability and performance tool. Results WA—a government transformation framework that would help top executives better gauge how agencies perform against the governor’s major goals – helped achieve this goal by providing powerful, sophisticated tools and innovative processes. The development of the initiative brought together various stakeholders from across state government to help create an actionable path forward.

The Governor’s Office also turned to Accenture because of its track record in developing transformational strategies that allow global businesses and governments worldwide to resolve pressing issues.

Solution

To support a prompt move forward, Accenture employed its Collaborative Client Value Lab—an action-oriented strategic process that engages government leaders from start to finish—which enabled the Governor’s Office to quickly reach a consensus on a sustainable plan for embedding Results WA throughout state government. The implementation roadmap addressed two major issues: turning the strategic vision for Results WA into an actionable plan and using Results WA to reinforce the state’s operating principles that address the use of purpose, accountability, incentives, control and culture to drive outcomes for government transformation.

In Phase 1, top state officials identified high-value strategies and prioritized them based on Results WA goals and Accenture’s team held workshops to facilitate difficult discussions, with each strategy assessed against its feasibility and required resources.

In Phase 2, Accenture helped officials develop an integrated plan for implementing Results WA across all participating agencies. The final Results WA framework won critical buy-in from key stakeholders, ensuring a government transformation with sustained success.

Results

Following its launch, Results WA is quickly reinventing the way state government works. A new citizen-focused public service model has been created from the newly adopted strategies promoting collaboration among agencies and common performance standards.

Results include:

Accountability to citizens. An interactive site allows residents to monitor agencies’ performance against key success metrics. Citizens also are included in performance review discussions, making them partners in designing more effective services.

Aligning the state budget. The governor’s staff is planning to use Results WA priorities and outcome measures to inform budget and policy decisions.

Employing lean. Employing this process improvement methodology within the Results WA framework promotes innovative solutions for improved performance. Results WA is turning the governor’s ambitious government transformation vision into reality, helping state agencies achieve high performance and advancing the state’s reputation as a national leader for delivering public service for the future.

Select your location

No results found

We were unable to find a match for "$searchstring." Try searching again by using different or more general keywords and check for spelling errors.

RECOMMENDED CONTENT

FILTER RESULTS

FILTER RESULTS

Connect with our Talent Community

Personalize your Accenture Career search and receive tailored news, insights and job alerts. Join our Talent Connection to learn more about the challenging and rewarding career opportunities offered by Accenture.